Second Chance
This is chronicling Second Chance, the original precursor to Press Your Luck. Premise Three contestants competed in a question/answer game for points which would be turned into spins and traded for cash and prizes on a game board. Question Round In each round, the contestants were asked three questions. On each question the contestants wrote down answers on cards (ala Match Game-style) in five seconds or less and placed them down on their card holder (which were actually their scoreboards for when they go to the board) when they were finished. Host Peck then told the contestants how well they did (ex: "At least two of you are wrong" or "At least one of you is right") unless (in the series) everybody wrote the same thing; then gave three possible answers (aka Second Chance Answers). This was where the show got its name. Each contestant was asked to either stay with his/her current answer or replace it with one of the Second Chance answers (aka taking a Second Chance). When all was said and done, the correct answer was revealed (usually one of the contestants revealed the correct answer if at least one of them had it). A correct original answer scored three points, while a correct Second Chance answer scored one point. 27 points were up for grabs and all three contestants can earn up to nine points each. All points earned were turned into spins for the game board. Second Chance Bonus Board When the question round was over, the contestant island moved over for the contestants to see the game board which would open up like a book. The board itself had 18 spaces (just like the Press Your Luck big board) with thousands of dollars in cash and prizes but with several differences: *The lights around the squares flashed really fast. *Whenever the board spun, a disco-like tune that loops continuously (a variation of the theme song) is played. *None of the squares changed except in the series when Square #4 (the big money square) rotated amounts from $1,000 to $5,000 in Round Two and offered a free spin. *At first there was only one pattern, then nine and finally even more. *The prizes were hidden behind gift boxes. *A bell sounded when a contestant landed on a good square. *Instead of Whammies, there were devils on the board; a "waa-waa" sound was heard whenever a devil was hit. The devil squares were highlighted in red (just like the Whammy squares in Whammy!). There were three on the board. However, unlike the Whammy, the devil would not show any on-screen animation acting; once hit, the contestant's score just clears out and the character pops up. Originally, in the pilot, the devil didn't pop up, either; instead it lit up. In both rounds, the player with the fewest spins or the player at far right in case of a tie always went first. The contestant in control of the board took as many of his/her earned spins as he/she can and on each spin the contestant stopped the board by hitting his/her button and by yelling "STOP!" If he/she hit a cash amount it was added to his/her score; if he/she hit a gift box, the prize behind it was revealed and its value was added to his/her score. If at any time the contestant hit a devil, he/she lost all his/her money up to that point, and hitting four devils puts that contestant out of the game. Originally when the devil was hit, the devil(s) appeared behind the player in lights; later the devil showed up on flip cards. If at any point the contestant fears that a devil would show up on the next spin, he/she would pass his/her spins to the player in first place, or if he/she is in first place, that player had to pass them to the second place player. And should both players have the same score, the passing player would decide who to pass the spins to. The player with the passed spins had to take those spins until he/she ran out or hit a devil (at which point the remaining passed spins became earned spins). In the series, each time the passed contestant hit money plus a free spin, the spin just played became an earned spin. The player with the most money at the end of the game won the game and kept all his/her cash and prizes won. Originally, winning players would come back on the next show; later it was changed to having three new contestants every day but with this one exception: should any players win the game with $0(and with fewer than four devils), they were invited back to play the next show. Music Score Productions This theme was used originally on the short-lived 1976 version of I've Got a Secret. Inventors Bill Carruthers & Jan McCormick Episode Status Three pilots were made for Second Chance. Only the third pilot exists. The episode aired June 27, 1977, the episode from May 31, 1977, and the series finale (albeit only in audio form) are the only three episodes of the aired series existing to this day. An opening sequence announced by Jack Clark is also available (albeit in audio form). Links Game Show Central: Second Chance Second Chance information page Category:Shows